IFan Case Charges iPhone with Wind Power

The iPhone uses a lot of power. Whether the battery is too small or we just feel compelled to play with it more than with other devices doesn’t matter. What matters is that half way through the day, you can find yourself with a dead phone. Tjeerd Veenhoven decided to do something about it, and instead of just, you know, plugging the thing in, he made the iFan.

Fashioned from an old computer cooling fan and a bumper-style case to house the electronics, Veenhoven’s iFan charges the iPhone fully in six-hours. Sure, that’s a lot longer than using a power adapter, but it’s also a lot less than I would have expected. He plans to cut that time with a more efficient fan.

Best of all are Veenhoven’s usage scenarios, which involve catching the wind while “sun bathing at the beach, doing walking trips in the mountains or just holding it outside your car window while driving along…”

That last one gives me a great idea: Attach this to your dog’s collar and take a road trip. What could possibly go wrong?